Peter Preble
(He/Him)
Hull
As seen in:
HuffPost,
Tiny Buddha,
Spirit of Change Magazine,
New Bedford Light,
Netzender,
Emerging Civil War
Covers:
Grief and bereavement
Religion and public life
Ethics and human dignity
Emergency services and first responders
Hospice, caregiving, and end-of-life care
Artificial intelligence and society
Writer • Public theologian • Minister & chaplain | Grief, death, faith, AI & human flourishing • Army veteran | peterpreble.net
Interview
What was your first job as a journalist?
My first real work in journalism was behind a microphone. I began in radio as a host and broadcaster, interviewing guests and exploring the intersection of religion, politics, history, and public life. Podcasting soon became an extension of that work and gave me more freedom to pursue longer conversations.
Radio taught me lessons I still carry into my writing: prepare carefully, listen for what someone is actually saying, ask the follow-up question, and never forget that there are real people on the other side of the microphone.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes, but it was a LONG time ago
How is social media changing news?
Social media has made news faster, more immediate, and more accessible. Journalists can discover stories, hear directly from affected communities, find sources, and report events while they are still unfolding. It has also enabled people who were routinely overlooked by traditional media to document their own experiences and challenge official accounts.
At the same time, social media has blurred the boundaries between reporting, commentary, rumor, and performance. Platforms reward speed, certainty, outrage, and emotional reaction, while good journalism often requires patience, verification, context, and a willingness to say that the facts are still developing. The journalist’s role is therefore more important, not less: to slow the story down enough to determine what is true without losing sight of the human beings living through it.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Will McAvoy
What does it mean to be a journalist?
To be a journalist is to accept responsibility for helping other people understand the world. It means approaching events with curiosity, testing claims against evidence, asking questions that institutions might prefer to avoid, and distinguishing what is known from what is merely assumed. Journalism is not simply producing content or expressing an opinion. It is a disciplined practice of listening, verification, judgment, and accountability.
It also means remembering that every story involves human beings whose lives cannot be reduced to quotations, statistics, or competing narratives. A journalist owes readers accuracy and independence, but also owes sources fairness and honesty. At its best, journalism makes overlooked experiences visible, gives public decisions their human context, and creates a trustworthy record of what happened and why it mattered.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
#FourSeasonsTotalLandscaping remains difficult to beat. The collision of presidential politics, an apparent booking mistake, and a press conference held between a crematorium and an adult bookstore felt less like breaking news than a scene rejected from a political satire for being too implausible. It was also a useful reminder that history is sometimes shaped in grand halls, and sometimes in a landscaping company’s parking lot.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Email first, then maybe a phone conversation. For sensitive things, we can use Signal.
What's your favorite social network?
Facebook but Bluesky is gaining fast
Who do you wish followed you?
A few assigning editors with healthy freelance budgets would be lovely.
More seriously, I hope to be followed by people who are curious about the places where grief, religion, history, ethics, technology, and public life intersect. I especially value readers who may not agree with me about everything but are willing to stay in a thoughtful conversation. Journalism is most worthwhile when it helps us encounter lives and experiences beyond our own.
Why did you become a journalist?
I did not become a journalist through the traditional newsroom route. I came to journalism through years of writing, broadcasting, pastoral ministry, and public service. Each of those roles taught me to listen carefully, ask better questions, verify what I have been told, and recognize that every public issue ultimately affects particular human lives.
Journalism gives me a way to explore the places where grief, faith, history, ethics, technology, and public life meet. I am especially drawn to stories that are easily overlooked: the cumulative grief carried by first responders, the experiences of caregivers and grieving families, and the human consequences hidden beneath institutional language and policy debates. I became a journalist because careful reporting can make those experiences visible, hold institutions accountable, and help people understand one another more fully.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
I did not
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
I am especially proud of “Some of What We Carry Is Grief,” written for the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services. The article examines professional grief and cumulative loss in the fire service—the deaths, traumatic calls, repeated exposures, interrupted retirements, and changes in identity that firefighters and other first responders may carry without recognizing them as grief.
I am proud of it because it gave language to an experience that is often hidden behind ideas of resilience and toughness. It also brought together several parts of my life: journalism, pastoral care, grief work, and service as a fire chaplain. The piece was not simply about describing a problem. It was an invitation for departments and individual firefighters to recognize what they carry and understand that seeking support is compatible with strength.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Begin with curiosity rather than certainty. Listen carefully, ask the question beneath the obvious question, verify what you think you know, and remain willing to discover that your original assumption was wrong. The people you interview are not merely sources; they are human beings entrusting you with some portion of their lives. Treat that trust seriously.
Do not wait for a prestigious outlet or a perfect assignment before doing the work. Report what is happening in your community, learn how institutions actually function, read beyond your usual interests, and write regularly. Rejection is part of the profession, but so is revision. The goal is not simply to be noticed. It is to become someone readers and editors can trust to be accurate, fair, humane, and attentive to the stories others overlook.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Early morning (but after coffee)
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
I am not sure I have received enough truly bad pitches to name a worst one. I have, however, sent a few bad pitches, usually too long, too broad, or more focused on what I wanted to write than on what an editor’s readers needed. Journalism is excellent at teaching humility.
Those experiences have shown me that a good pitch respects the recipient’s time, understands the publication, and makes clear why the story matters now. If someone pitches me, brevity and genuine human relevance will always get my attention faster than jargon or exaggerated claims.
What's your favorite drink?
An Old Fashioned (and coffee of course)
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
At the beach or hanging with my kids
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
The most common misperception is that subjects such as grief, religion, technology, emergency services, history, and public policy belong in separate conversations. In practice, they continually overlap. A technological decision can become a question of human dignity; a policy debate can expose unacknowledged grief; and a community’s history can explain why institutional change feels like a personal loss.
My beat is ultimately about how large forces are experienced in ordinary human lives. I am interested in what happens when institutions, beliefs, technologies, and public decisions meet the embodied realities of memory, responsibility, belonging, loss, and hope.
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